Thursday, August 29, 2013

I've been crazily working on fiber. My etsy shop doesn't show it, but I've been busy. I've dyed and carded fiber for October's Phat Fiber box and am working on making it all into sample rolags. I've also dyed fiber for November's rolags but haven't carded anything yet. In non-Phat Fiber news I've dyed fiber for what was meant to be sandy/beach themed rolags, but ended up more bright and sunny as well as lush blues for a water theme and in the dye pot are greens for an earth/forest theme. I'm having a grand time with my blending board - the rolags might not always look "perfect" but I'm ridiculously happy with them.

These are about to go into the shop:

Here's my process (in not-great-light) for the sunny yellow not-beach-themed rolags.
I started with my board, a paintbrush (which I didn't use), two dowels, and the carded batts (polwarth, soy silk, alpaca, shetland, firestar, and some suffolk).

One of the batts unrolled. I love the soy silk bits and the sunny polwarth.

The board loaded with fiber. Instead of using the paintbrush I used my "burnishing" brush (a wire pet brush) to pack in the fibers.

The first rolag is done! Woo!

I got twenty-two rolags from the two batts. About 4.85 ounces of fiber.

I've been dyeing like crazy, too. I'm hoping for an update to the shop tonight or tomorrow. Here's a peek:

I've also been dyeing bits for rolags (or mini batts, I haven't decided yet) for October's Phat Fiber box). Sunday is the Elf's eleventh birthday and I have to admit that i'm a little freaked out about all of the emotional (and physical) changes going on there. Next month is the Imp's fifth birthday. I'm working on an intarsia Captain America sweater for him. It's.. frustrating. On top of that I'm participating in a spin along and a test knit. I also need to figure out our homeschool plan for the year. But yeah, I thrive on chaos.

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

I'm fairly certain that all of my kids are going through some kind of.. phase. I keep telling myself that they will be calm at some point. They'll stop screaming about everything. Things will "normalize" - whatever that is.

I haven't had the emotional/mental energy to blog. Nothing *bad* is going on. Just the everyday life of three boys. Which is enough, believe me.

Here's what I've been doing when *not* tearing my hair out:

This is a spin along (spin-a-long? I just don't know) from Hobbledehoy. I've started spinning it as a fine single to be chain plied. Mine is the 4th Doctor's Scarf colorway.

I've been making rolags! These aren't great looking, but they're only attempts two and three. Unlike the ones I pulled from the drum carder, these are skinny and long. How am I making them if not on the drum carder, you ask? (Okay, I know you didn't ask.)

B and I finally made a blending board! I've been obsessively thinking about, plotting, and planning this thing. It didn't work out quite how I'd wanted - the keel is majorly hacked. But it works! I wish we'd put the cloth another inch or so from the end and cut the board shorter. But these things are doable, though not high on the list.

This is one of the Elf's birthday gifts. It's my attempt at a intarsia/woven stranded hybrid. It's knit entirely from handspun. Not perfect, but I'm proud. I'm also making him some small crocheted Spartans (not historical but rather from Halo) but couldn't be bothered to take pictures.

In addition, I've been dyeing for the shop. I posted a large (for me) update today. And here's the admission, I've been spending more time than I should playing Borderlands. We finished all the DLC yesterday and started Borderlands 2. Yes, it's an addiction.